RSS Links

world

Hey guys! Long time no blog…
I just got back from a weekend in the beautiful sea-side city of Charleston, S.C with my fellow GAS Club members. GAS Club is a government-and-students organization if you’re wondering. We all make bills to try and “pass” during what we call “Legislative Day.” Then every year we go to Charleston!

This year is the first I’ve been. It was super cold the first two days, and rainy as well :(. But we still saw some pretty cool things!

Our first stop was the Columbia Museum, where we saw the gigantic Megaladon shark! It’s hard to tell in the pic I got, but this thing was over 50ft long!
The next pic is of the State Capitol Building. While we were there they had some sort of press conference about the Stand Your Ground law going on. What do you guys think about that??

Friday was an…interesting day. I’m just glad I didn’t get sick from being out in the rain so long. We did go to this cool pizza place though called Grimaldi’s.

Fun fact: When I visited New York City I ate at the original Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn. Definitely worth a try!

Saturday we went to Folly Beach Pier and took tons of photos…

Shoutout to my BF Taylor for putting up with me for three days! 🙂

Oh, and of course I had to have my caffeine fix for those 1:00 a.m nights! Here’s the “secret” recipe for the Smore’s frappé I got Saturday, it was soooo gooooood!!!!

Ah, it’s nice be home though. We finally got up to 70 this week! What an accomplishment for this crazy winter.

Good evening everyone, how’s it going? Tonight I’d like to discuss the very broad topic of biodiversity. What’s biodiversity? It’s basically the collection and variation of all living things on Earth, and it’s very important that we maintain and take care of it.

During the past decades, the world has further and further exploited environmental resources, which has had a deleterious effect on wildlife populations around the world. We all hear about how the “rain forests are being cut down” and how “the ozone is depleting”…these statements are very true and their effects will shape our lives later on in the future.

Now, I don’t mean to be an alarmist or anything, but according to David Olsen, (Inhabitant) and other environmental analysts,

“A conservative estimate is that well over a hundred species a day are going extinct, with the rate of disappearing species accelerating as natural habitats shrink, fragment, and degrade and commercial exploitation of vulnerable species escalates. The loss of species is irreversible and the loss of old-growth natural habitats irretrievable within centuries. The fewer the species remaining on this planet, the more tenuous our own existence.”

Seriously people of the world? Seriously? This is totally unacceptable! But you know what the great thing is though? You can make a difference, no matter how corny that statement sounded.If there’s only one thing I took out of my WYSE experience last year, it’s that anybody at all can make a difference, but it all starts in the home.

Most of you guys have probably seen those ASPCA and PETA, etc commercials with the sad puppies and kittens saying “Give me a home!” And if you guys are anything like me, those commercials are tear-jerkers. Well, think of all the other poor animals out there, that really don’t have a voice. Who will take care of them if no one speaks up? Here’s what we can do.

1. Get educated. Know what the environmental issues are. Know what’s happening in other countries and know the current policies towards deforestation, tracking, wildlife trade, etc. The more you know, the better you can make small differences in your life that could contribute to the environmental effort.

2. If you live in a very politically active area, try lobbying for environmental rights, or join a protest/demonstration. The civil rights marchers got somewhere by demonstrating, why can’t we?

3. Lastly, just make differences in the way you live. Give a little to the WWF each month, or volunteer at a zoo, or pet shelter. Educate more people, recycle, start composting, the possibilities are endless. If we all just pitch in a little bit, we can change society, and the environment could be pristine again.

So go, and “Just do it”, as Nike says, and make 2014 the year of caring.

I don’t know about you, but trying to think of ideas on being green is tough. Of course, there is always the whole “Turn the faucet off when you brush” or “Start a compost pile” thing. But that’s no fun! While I was at the WYSE summer program, I came up with a “game” of sorts and heard about an awesome way to get food!

Here’s my game: It’s called the Fast and Furious Shower!

How you play: Go to your phone’s timer and start it right as your hopping in the shower! Cleanse yourself AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!! And see how long you take! Can you get down to five minutes? four? three? I DARE YOU TO TRY IT!

Ok, now to the other cool way to be green!

Instead of buying your meats and produce from the grocery store, check out http://www.localharvest.org/csa/. You can use this website to find CSA (community supported agriculture) farms in your area! The cool thing is, for a set fee you get a bundle of goodies each week or month right from that farm! They can also deliver it to your house! Isn’t that awesome! So go and support the people who grow your food!